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ECW Championship
The Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Championship was the world championship of the ECW brand and one of three in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship of the Raw and SmackDown brands, respectively. It was originally introduced under the NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling promotion in 1992. In 1994, the NWA subsidiary seceded and became Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), establishing the championship as a world title. History 'Origin' The ECW Championship was introduced originally in 1992 as the NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship with Jimmy Snuka becoming the inaugural champion on April 25. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a promotion with various subsidiaries. In the early 1990s, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a subsidiary to the NWA and by 1994, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the world title of the NWA and its subsidiaries, was vacant. Consequently, a tournament was organized to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion and on August 27, NWA-ECW Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas, defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals to win the title. However, Douglas immediately relinquished the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. ECW subsequently seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was thus established, spun off from the NWA title. It remained active until April 11, 2001 when ECW closed. In 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment purchased its assets. 'Recommission' By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12, a reunion event that featured ECW alumni. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere event in the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a third WWE brand, complementary to Raw and SmackDown. On June 13, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship would "become" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if a competitor designated to the ECW brand became WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion at the event. However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead. The title became known as the ECW World Championship in July 2006, and later simply as the ECW Championship in August 2007. 'Brand Designation' Following the events of the WWE Brand Extension, an annual WWE Draft was established, in which select members of the WWE roster are reassigned to a different brand. After two years on the ECW brand, the ECW Championship was briefly moved to the SmackDown brand when Chavo Guerrero, a member of the SmackDown brand, defeated the ECW Champion CM Punk on January 22, 2008 to win the title. On March 30 at WrestleMania XXIV, the ECW Championship returned to ECW when Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW Championship and soon after defected to the ECW brand. After the 2008 WWE Draft, Kane was drafted to Raw, moving the ECW Championship to the Raw brand. Due to the WWE Champion Triple H being drafted to SmackDown, this meant that the ECW Championship was, for a short time, the sole World Championship on the Raw brand. On June 29 at Night of Champions, Mark Henry defeated Kane and The Big Show in a Triple Threat match to win the ECW Championship. Henry's status as a member of the ECW brand resulted in the championship returning to ECW, where the championship would remain from that point on. The brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive once again. Category:Inactive Championships